Denver Broncos / NFL

Klis: Cassel is McDaniels' best evidence

INDIANAPOLIS — If there was but one reason Josh McDaniels got the job as head coach of the Denver Broncos, it would be Matt Cassel.

An oversimplification, yes, but for all of McDaniels' credentials and characteristics, nothing on his résumé is more impressive than how he transformed an average-armed passer who had not started a football game since his senior year in high school into a quarterback who directed the New England Patriots to an 11-5 NFL record in 2008.

"I hope there's a million reasons why," McDaniels said. "That was one of them. It's a tribute to Matt Cassel what he was able to do this year. While you're coaching a team or a player, you don't ever think about it as far as what it can do for me down the road. You're just trying to do the best you can at that point in time."

Before last season, universal credit for the Pats' record-setting offense went to quarterback Tom Brady. When Brady suffered a season-ending injury in the first quarter of the first game of last season, and the Pats still scored 41 points against the Broncos in the Monday Night Nightmare in New England on Oct. 20, acclaim went to New England's system.

And those who teach it.

Indeed, Pat Bowlen wasn't the only NFL owner who started probing the mind of McDaniels, the Pats' wunderkind offensive coordinator. Had the Broncos not hired him first, McDaniels likely would have been head coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, or maybe the St. Louis Rams.

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Until Brady went down, Cassel had not started at quarterback since 1999 while at Chatsworth (Calif.) High School. He started one game in four seasons at USC — at tight end — and never threw a touchdown pass for the Trojans. And Cassel had never started anything more than a preseason game in his first four years with the Pats.

Not surprisingly, Cassel struggled early this season, but McDaniels figured out his quarterback was much more effective when his starting point was from the shotgun instead of under center.

In Cassel's first five games last season, he passed for 182 yards per game with three touchdown passes against four interceptions and 4.0 sacks a game. The Pats went 3-2.

In his final 11 games, he passed for 253 yards a game with 18 touchdowns against seven interceptions and 2.45 sacks a game. The Pats went 8-3.

It should be noted Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler has openly admitted he prefers starting a play from the shotgun.

No patience. Bowlen fired Dan Reeves after the Broncos went 8-8 in 1992. Wade Phillips was fired after going a combined 16-16 in 1993-94. Mike Shanahan was fired after going 24-24 in his final three seasons from 2006-08.

Just a guess, but by the end of McDaniels' four-year contract, Bowlen will be expecting something better than 32-32.

"That was the thing that really drew me to him right away," McDaniels said. "He expressed his interest in bringing in somebody that cared about winning and winning only and winning first. And that's my attitude and approach."

Where the heart is. Not many people know this but when Thomas Dimitroff — the NFL's best general manager, as the votes went this season — was the New England Patriots' scouting director during their ongoing dominant run from 2003-07, he lived in Boulder.

Dimitroff lived in Boulder when he was scouting for the Detroit Lions in the mid-1990s. He lived in Boulder when he later scouted for the Cleveland Browns.

And even though Dimitroff now has a full-time residence in the Atlanta area, he continues to hold on to his Boulder home. Dimitroff, it seems, is more than just a general manager who turned the Atlanta Falcons from a moribund franchise into an 11-5 playoff qualifier. He is also a bicycling, rock climbing and snowboarding enthusiast.

Hence, his 13-year residency in Boulder.

"I was working as a Western scout and I was driving around checking out different cities to live," Dimitroff said here at the combine. "I looked at Flagstaff, Ariz., first, because I love the outdoors. And then I went north a little bit and I was going to check out Eugene and some other places, but I got to Boulder and never left."

Lockheed says object part of 'sensor technology' testing that ended ThursdayWhat the heck is that thing? It's fair to assume that question was on the minds of many people who traveled along Colo. 128 south of Boulder this week if they happened to catch a glimpse of what appeared to be a large, silver projectile perched alongside the highway and pointed north toward town.

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